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Literally mind-numbing

I’m not sure why Amazon UK thought I’d be interested in a Powerball, but I clicked on the link to see what exactly it was. I wasn’t reassured:

Powerball is a dynamic and completely revolutionary new gyroscope that literally explodes with mind-numbing torque and inertia once you activate its internal rotor.

(Emphasis added.)

Nothing new, of course, about “literally” being misused. One of my all-time favourite Colemanballs was the snooker commentator who said:

And the audience, here at the Crucible Theatre, are literally electrified and glued to their seats.

And I remember reading that Edward Windsor, as he then styled himself, said in a documentary on the abdication crisis that George VI was “literally catapulted onto the throne.” What a pity that coronation wasn’t televised.